Music Technology ProjectMIDIMIDI is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and is a piece of equipment that allows people to record music into a computer where it can be further edited and saved. In order to do this, the computer is often connected to a MIDI keyboard where you can use its keys to create not only piano/keyboard sounds but by using a program called Logic you can create drum sounds, strings, woodwind etc. The MIDI keyboard also has other inputs in the back of it allowing you to plug in live instruments such as guitars and Microphones. From there you can add effects onto a clean instrument. Microphones Input

Audio in (Guitar leads can plug into here)

MIDI keyboardThe MIDI keyboard works by sending messages from the keyboard and into the computer software. These messages are delivered in the form of Binary Data. This means that format of the messages are displayed as a series of 0s and 1s. 0s appear when there is no audio activity at all and 1s appear when there is audio activity. By reading a series of 0s and 1s the software is able to convert the messages into sounds and work out its corresponding note on the keyboard for instance. The messages sent can alternate depending on other factors such as the duration of the note(s) being played and how frequently the note is played. DAWDAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation and is the type of workspace where you are able to record audio into a computer or digitally compose music using the softwares instrument tracks. The software I use is computer program called Logic.

This is an image of the DAW setup in which I use.Jack to Jack lead- can be used to plug in live instruments where they can further be edited

Power cable- Powers the computer as well as the MIDI keyboard

Internet cable- Connects the computer to the internet.USB cable- Connects MIDI keyboard as well as ordinary PC keyboard and mouse to the computerSpeaker Cables- Connect the computer to speakers where and audio outputs can be heard

If I wanted to record a live guitar into Logic I would require the cables listed in order for it to work. Otherwise the software would not be able to receive the messages sent my guitar and therefore would not be able to convert them into sound. The signals sent would first be sent out of guitar down the Jack to Jack lead into the Audio Interface (MIDI). From there the messages are sent through a USB cable into the DAW. From here the messages are converted into music where they can further be edited on the computer screen using the mouse and the keyboard. The sound is then sent down the speaker cables where it then projected by the speakers.

MIDI is a very cleaver yet simple way of composing music digitally. A composer using MIDI would gain many benefits than recording a live band in a studio. This is because by using MIDI they dont need a full band or orchestra as by creating new instrument tracks the composer can single handily create individual parts on Logic. They can go into detail on each instrument without knowledge of actually playing the live instrument as the MIDI keyboard allows you to digitally recreate the sound. The composer could also add effects to each instrument to create different sounds.Using LogicIn order to use Logic you will first have to open the Logic program. By moving your mouse to the bottom of your Mac screen a group of icons should pop up. Next scroll along until you find the Logic (Or Logic Express) icon. Next double click it to open the program. Failing to find the program? Use the search bar in the top of the screen to find the program. Next move the mouse to the top left of the screen and click on File. Having done that it should open a list of options.From there scroll down until you find Open. This should open up another list of options.

To open a clean project click on the icon where it says Empty Project.

It should then come up with a box asking how many instruments you would like to start with. For this I just started with one before going on to add more. The box also asks what type of track you would like to record. You can choose what of instrument you would like to start recording with first. The options are Audio (E.g. Microphones, live guitar etc), Software Instrument (E.g. Music created digitally on MIDI) and External MIDI. For this Im going to use a software instrument. Then to save your work you move your mouse to the top left of the screen where it says File. Having done that a list should appear and you should click on Save as to confirm where about your saving the document on your computer, or click Save once the file has been given a place to save to.

To create a new Instrument track you have to click on the plus sign next to where it says Global Tracks.

These are some of the different instruments that are available when using a software track. As you can see the software covers most instruments and there different versions of each instrument.There is a wide range of instruments available ranging from drums & percussion to pop horns, pop strings and choirs.

The sound of Instrumental tracks can also be edited by first clicking on the track you would like to edit, then look over to the left of the screen you should see a box like this one. From here by clicking on each of the boxes you can add effects such as EQ, Reverb and Delay. For example on my track I used the limiter tool to edit the amount of gain I wanted on my guitar track.

BPMBPM stands for Beats Per Minute and is a way of calculation the tempo of a piece of music. The BPM of a composition in Logic can be found around the bottom of the screen. This indicates the time signature of the song. For instance this song has the time signature of 4 beats in a bar.This indicates the BPM of the track. For example this track has a BPM of 120.6830.

The BPM of the piece can be changed by simply holding the mouse on the BPM indicator and dragging it upwards to increase the BPM on downwards to decrease the BPM. Logic Tools

These are a list of some of the tools that logic offer and can be accessed by clicking in the top left of the screen next to the bin. The Pointer Tool is the normal mouse but if you click on the tools drop down menu you can choose another tool. The Pencil Tool for instance is very handy as it allows you to create a piece by adding individual notes rather than having to compose it through a keyboard. Instead you click on the displayed keyboard which notes you want. I used this tool when composing the drum beat to my track as I found it difficult to compose the drum beat myself through the keyboard. The Eraser Tool is also handy as if any mistakes are made when composing it allows you to erase and wrong notes from the piece. The Scissors Tool is similar to the Eraser Tool except the Scissors Tool allows you to divide track sections that have been recorded. This can be helpful as if you make a mistake at the end of a long recorded track, the ending can just be cut off and rerecorded over instead of having to record the whole track again.

LoopsLooping is a cleaver tool that allows you to repeat a certain part of song over and over. This means you can record over the top of the loop. Its very easy to do this. All you have to do is go up to the bar above the recorded tracks where the bar indicator is. From there you just click on which number bar you want the loop top start and drag it to the point you want the loop to finish. When the loop is on a green bar should appear.To remove the loop just click the green bar and it should dim indicating its off.

QuantizingQuantizing is another helpful feature in Logic. It allows you to re correct any notes that are out of time with the track. By quantizing the highlighted notes it shifts them along to fit in time with the bar. To quantize you select the MIDI region which you wish to quantize by dragging the mouse over the notes. Choose the value of your piece in the quantize drop down menu (E.g. 1/24- Note, 1/64- Note).

Factors for when recordingThe first main factor in insuring a successful audio recording is checking that all audio cables are in the correct input. It very easy to accidently put a jack to jack cable into the headphones input when recording a guitar. Also check that before trying to record that Logic is picking up any audio from your instrument. The Audio output is projected on screen and can be seen when the line inside the column rises. If there is no audio coming in it could be because you have selected the wrong type of track to record in. For example if I wanted to record me singing into a microphone and there was no output coming out, it could be because I had selected to record on a software instrument instead of an audio track.

Noise ProblemsWhen recording and audio track you have to be very careful not to create a track that suffers from noise problems. One problem youll have to look out for when recording is feedback from the speakers. When recording you have to make sure that the speaker volume is not up or the mic will pick up the speakers causing them to feedback. The best thing to do is to have the speakers turned off when recording to stop any chances of that. Another noise issue is background noise. When recording you must make sure that your work space is very quiet or the mic will pick up sounds of people walking around or talking which may ruin the piece. The best thing to do is to make sure your recording in a soundproof room in order to reduce the chance of unwanted sounds being picked up. Another simple issue is not putting your lips right against the mic as sometimes it can emphasize certain letters such as Ts Ps etc. The best thing to do to help that is to get hold of a pop filter which filters out some of those emphasized sounds.

Effects I have usedI composed a composition that fitted with an advert for a new racing game. For this I created some guitar sounds on a software instrument track and decided to add some effects onto the guitar sound. First I added distortion to the guitar to give the piece more of an adrenaline feel to it. I also used a limiter to control how much distortion I wanted on the guitars output. Channel StripThe main sections of the channel strip include inserts, panning and volume. Inserts can be used to add pre-recorded audio clips onto tracks. These are help full if you want to record over the top of a pre created track e.g. a backing track. Panning is controlling which speaker each sound from the track comes out of. It is a very effective bit of mixing that can create very psychedelic moods in some cases. By clicking A on the keyboard and dragging the track line up and down you can control the output of the speakers. In my composition I used panning to create a more diverse track. As you can see the green line indicated panning I have done. When the line goes above and below the central line it indicates how much is coming out of each speaker. For Example when the line rises above the central line, there is more output coming out the left speaker than the right. And when it goes below its the opposite of that, more coming out of the right speaker than left.

I also altered the volume in my piece by doing the exact same technique as I used with the panning. All you have to do is click where it saying panning and change it to volume in order to alter the volume output. When the yellow line goes above the central line it means that there will be an increase in volume and when it goes bellow the line it means a decrease in volume.

The uses of LogicLogic is not only a fantastic program for musicians to use but I believe that it is just as useful to film composers. This is because on Logic you can add movie clips into Logic where music and sound effects can be dubbed over the top. Movie clips can be added simply by going to File and clicking on import movie clip. Not only would composers be able to create music to specifically fit each scene of a movie but Logic also allows the composer to view the video at the same time. This means that the movie clip is also in sync with the time of the piece. But if the music composition has a tempo change in it the track it does not speed up the video clip. MixingI have done a bit on mixing in my composition on Logic most of it was done using the panning tool. Because my video clip was of a racing game I wanted my piece to have bits of instrumental flowing in and out of one another to give the effect of a car passing by. I did this by alternating the sound output and built up the volume of sound and decreasing it again. I have also done a similar technique with the panning as I altered the sound to come out one speaker then the other to recreate a car driving past.